


best years

by davnports



Category: The Office (US)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-27
Updated: 2020-03-27
Packaged: 2021-02-28 17:40:51
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,001
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23351086
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/davnports/pseuds/davnports
Summary: in which a new temp starts at a small paper company in scranton, pennsylvania and falls in love with a girl from accounting.
Relationships: jim halpert / pam beesly, ryan howard / original female characters
Kudos: 6





	best years

a camera crew were coming around today to start filming a new documentary about the little paper company in scranton, pennsylvania. 

mallory was standing over kevin’s shoulder as she was correcting him on a mistake he made on one of the accounting forms. 

“so you see, this number goes here, that number goes there.” mallory said, pointing to two numbers he switched. 

“okay. got it.” kevin caught on quick which mallory was thankful for. 

the brunette headed back to her desk, putting her pencil and paper down before heading to reception. 

“hey pam,” she greeted the girl sat behind the big desk. “any plans for this weekend?” mal asked resting her elbow on the top of the counter. 

“uh yeah. me and roy are going out on saturday night. but that’s about it.” pam informed. “what about you?” 

“nothing at all. like usual.” mallory shrugged as michael scott, their manager, walked up to them. 

“this is pam, our receptionist. pammy pam-pam!” michael banged on the receptionist desk as he introduced the light haired girl behind the counter. 

“pam has been with us, forever.” michael explained. 

“oh i don’t know.” pam grew shy all of a sudden as she smiled at the camera. 

mallory didn’t want to be on camera just yet so she tried to escape behind them. but, michael caught her just as she was walking to jim’s desk. the girl sighed, slightly annoyed with her boss. 

“they’re the halpert siblings,” michael whispered something to the camera earning a confused look from jim and mallory. “they’re the dynamic duo.” he finished pointing at the two. 

sometime later, mallory went to jim’s desk. she hung out there a lot since she couldn’t see much from her desk at accounting. 

a young man walked in the office door with a bag slung over his shoulder as he walked up to reception. 

“mallory!” jim snapped in front of the girls face to get her attention.

“huh? sorry. what were you saying?” she turned to look at her brother and he had an amused look on his face. 

“oh my god,” jim said, very amused. “you were staring at him.” 

“no i was not!” mallory got very defensive, but said this quietly so he didn’t hear. 

jim raised an eyebrow giving mallory a look and she shook her head. 

“you were staring at him.” dwight interjected, not looking up from his work. 

“dwight, stay out of it.” mallory scolded, leaning herself up against jims desk. michael and the boy stood there talking about the three stooges.

the rest of the day went by super slow, not much happening. there was word of downsizing happening, but it didn’t phase anyone really. 

the next day mallory was introduced to the boy from yesterday.

“mallory, this is ryan.” michael introduced the two in front of the wall that separated reception and accounting. 

“ryan howard.” the boy smiled at the flustered girl in front of him.

“i’m mallory halpert. hi.” the girl stuttered and stumbled over some of her words, hoping nobody caught that. 

of course, everyone did. 

she saw jim and dwight imitate her actions from moments before, which earned a giggle from pam.

mallory tried to ignore the gesture and went back to her desk to get some work done before lunch. 

around lunch time everyone was in the break room. there was a seat at one table with jim, pam, and ryan, which happened to be the only seat left. mallory made her way over and sat next to jim and ryan.

she unpacked her lunch and began eating. 

“rice and beans?” ryan questioned confused. 

“mom made it for dinner last night so these are leftovers.” mallory put another spoonful of rice and beans in her mouth.

“little bean,” ryan said quietly earning a confused look from mal.

“little bean?” 

“a new nickname for you.” ryan smiled eating the last of his sandwich. 

jim and pam smiled at their interaction and gave each other a look. 

mal smiled in approval at the nickname and continued eating her lunch. the four of them continued to talk about some random thing jim had brought up for the rest of lunch. 

after lunch everyone got back to work. mallory hasn’t seen ryan since he works in the annex and she works up front. but, michael introduced ryan to dwight and phyllis and that’s when mallory saw him again.

“so, uh, dwight, why don’t you tell him about the kung fu and the car and everything?” michael suggested. 

“uh, yeah, i got a ‘78 280Z, i brought it for 1,200, fixed it up, and now its worth three grand,” dwight explained. “yeah new engine suspension, i got a respray. i got some photos.” dwight turned to open his drawer but didn’t see the pictures. 

instead, he saw his stapler in yellow jell-o. “damn it, damn it!” dwight said frustrated.

“hold on — hold on. judge is in session. what’s the problem here?” michael moved closer to jim’s desk so he could see what was going to happen. 

“he put my stuff in jell-o again.” dwight complained earning a laugh from pam.

“that’s real professional, thanks. this is the third time and it wasn’t funny the first two times either, jim.” dwight glared at jim who was now eating a red jello cup with a fork. 

“what is that?” michael asked pointing at the stapler in the yellow jello. 

“it’s my stapler!” dwight went to grab it but michael quickly stopped him. 

“no no no! do not take it out. you have to eat it out of there. because there are starving people in the world, and, which i hate, and it is a waste of that kind of food.” michael explained. 

“okay, you know what? you can be my witness.” dwight pointed at ryan, “can you reprimand him, please?” they all turned to jim.

“how do you know it was me?” jim apposed. 

“because it’s always you!” dwight exclaimed clearly gaining annoyed. 

“not this time.” mallory walked up to the group a proud smile on her face.

“are you gonna discipline her or not?” 

“oh, discipline, kinky!” michael exclaimed and mallory rolled her eyes. 

“alright, here’s the deal, you guys. the thing about a practical joke is, you have to know when to start as well as when to stop. and yeah, mallory. now is the time to stop putting dwight’s personal effects into jello,” michael scolded mallory.

“okay,” mallory cleared her throat. “dwight, i’m sorry, because, i’ve always been your biggest flan.” mallory apologized to dwight, not really meaning it. 

“oh nice! that’s the way things are around here,” michael laughed. “they just go round and round.” 

“you uh, you should’ve put her in custardy.” ryan followed along with the joke earning a high five from mallory. 

“yes, new guy! and he scores!” michael pushed him playfully. 

work went slowly for the next few hours until it was closer to the end of the day. mallory needed michael to sign something so she went into his office. 

“ah, mallory! could you come in here a second? i was going to call you in anyway.” michael started. mal handed him the paper and sat down in the empty seat closest to the small table that was in his office. 

mal glanced back and forth between ryan and michael slightly nervous.

“well as you know, there is going to be downsizing. and you have made everybody’s life so much easier. and saying that, i am going to have to let you go first.” michael said earning a sad look from mallory.

“i’m sorry? what have i done to get myself fired?” mal already had tears building up in her eyes and her face was beginning to grow red. 

“theft. and stealing.” michael said bluntly. 

“theft? what am i supposed to have stolen?” mal questioned, she glanced at ryan and he just shrugged. 

“post-it notes.” michael informed. mal have him a questioning look hoping he didn’t really mean it. 

“post it notes? what are those worth, like 50 cents?” she dismissed the stress building up in her chest and wiped her face. 

“post it notes, yeah. you steal 1,000 post it notes at 50 cents a piece, and you know, you’ve made a profit.. margin. you know, gonna run us out of business, mallory.” when michael said this it made mal more nervous. she could never tell when michael was joking about these kinds of things. 

“a-are you serious?” mal stuttered ready to cry more. 

she loved all the people she worked with and she wasn’t ready to let go of them. she wasn’t ready to lose this job. with her brother and her best friend working just five feet away from her, it was a dream. 

“yeah.” michael finished off ‘firing’ mallory and she was stunned. 

“i cant believe this. i’ve never done so much as steal a paper clip. and now you’re firing me?” mal kept her tone calm but the sadness was clear in her voice. 

mal tried to calm down so she wouldn’t make a fool of herself in front of the cameras or ryan. she already had, though.

“and the best thing is, uh, we’re not gonna have to give you any severance pay. because that is gross misconduct and uh, just clean out your desk. i’m sorry.” michael continued. 

mal took a deep breath and looked at the camera. she wiped her face again, hoping to dry the tears streaming down her face. 

“you’ve been ‘xed’ punk! surprise it’s a joke, we were joking around. see? okay, he was in on it. he was my accomplice. and it was kind of a morale booster thing,” michael laughed. 

ryan was shaking his head in disappointment while michael was explaining that it was a joke. 

“— and we were showing the new guy around kind of giving him the feel of the place.” michael finished explaining that it was a joke which made mallory’s heart pound in her chest. 

“you’re a jerk!” mal wiped her face one more time which shut michael up. 

“i don’t know about that.” 

mal got up upset and walked out of his office without saying another word. she quickly put on her jacket in hopes to get home before she made a fool out of herself again.

mallory didn’t want to the drive home to be upsetting, so she stayed at her desk until she calmed down a little bit.

from inside michaels office, there was still an uncomfortable tension between michael, ryan, and the camera crew. 

“maybe i should go apologize –“ ryan started to get up but michael quickly stopped him.

“no, no leave her be. she’ll laugh about this in the morning and we’ll all be good.” michael protested. 

ryan got up anyway and walked to mal who was still sitting at her desk. 

“hey, mallory, i’m really sorry about what happened in michaels office. i shouldn’t have gone along with it and — “ ryan started but mallory interrupted him.

“oh no, ryan, it’s totally cool. it’s not your fault michael’s just a jerk. he shouldn’t do things like that, ever.” mal smiled at ryan which made his heart beat a little bit faster. 

the two stood there in accounting before they were interrupted by jim.

“mal, you ready? i’ve been waiting for twenty minutes.” 

“uh, yeah. sorry. i’ll see you tomorrow ryan.” mal grabbed her bag and walked out with jim. 

“what happened? were you talking to ryan the whole time?” jim asked as he started the car.

“uh no. only for like five minutes. michael fake fired me and i had a mini panic attack. ryan was just apologizing for michaels actions.” mal explained 

“wait hold on, michael fake fired you? that’s cruel.” jim laughed at the joke but mal didn’t find it all that funny.

“yeah, he did. i made a fool out of myself in front of the new temp and the camera crew. can you believe that?” mal scoffed and turned to look out the window.


End file.
